Once again, Western Storm’s Smriti Mandhana played a crucial knock for her team in the sixth match in a row, this time she ended up scoring 56 off just 36 balls to lead a successful chase against Yorkshire Diamonds. What a signing the 22-year-old Indian batter has been for Western Storm.
It was hardly a surprise that Storm, the 2016 runners-up and 2017 champions in the Women’s Super League, secured Mandhana’s services for 2018, making her the first Indian cricketer to play the annual Twenty20 tournament. After all, she has been one of India’s stars in recent times, No.4 in the ICC Women’s ODI Rankings for batters and No.13 in the corresponding list in T20I cricket.
But scores of 48, 37, 52*, 43*, 102 and 56 in her first six innings of the tournament, which have made her the big hero in a team boasting players like Heather Knight, Stafanie Taylor and Rachel Priest, has exceeded expectations.
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The latest big effort came against the Diamonds, who rode on Lauren Winfield’s 48 and Beth Mooney’s 69 to put up a solid 172/5. But with Smriti scoring 56 with five fours and three sixes, and Priest (37) and Knight (45*) chipping in with useful contributions, it took Storm 19.2 overs to seal a seven-wicket win.
Just for a spot of perspective on how well Mandhana has done so far, here are some numbers:
Top-scorers in the three editions of the WSL
- 2016: Stafanie Taylor (Storm) – 289
- 2017: Rachel Priest (Storm) – 261
- 2018: Smriti Mandhana – 338*
(Note: Both Taylor and Priest played six innings apiece in 2016 and 2017 respectively)
WESTERN STORM WIN BY 7 WICKETS – What a run chase!!!!!!!!!!!!!#StormTroopers pic.twitter.com/ObsjbxEArM
— Western Storm (@_WesternStorm) August 5, 2018
If Mandhana continues with her purple patch, she is quite likely to set the bar extremely high, which will take some doing on the part of the other batters to top, whether this season or later.
Talking about the game, Storm’s captain, Knight said, “The team is full of confidence at the moment. The way we’re going about our cricket is really pleasing. The top of the order is obviously going very well, Smriti in particular. Smriti’s just effortless. She’s so pleasing on the eye, keeps it simple and hits it straight. Everything is going her way at the moment, even those ones that fall into gaps.”
